Check-Mate
by bi0l0gygal
Summary: A series of one-shots between Ron and Hermione, in the times they get to spend together when Harry's not around. But what do they do without Harry? Well, Ron teaches Hermione how to play wizard chess...
1. Check Mate

It was nearing the end of the summer holidays between Harry, Ron and Hermione's fifth and sixth years at Hogwarts. As ever, the Weasleys were expecting Harry at some point, but weren't quite sure when (Dumbledore was sure to fill them in eventually); and, with a week to go before they returned to Hogwarts, Hermione had arrived. It had become tradition that Hermione came to the Burrow before school re-started – it gave her the chance to go and do all her wizarding shopping with the Weasleys, who knew what they were doing, rather than dragging her confused muggle parents down Diagon Alley, repeatedly reminding them to stop staring. And Hermione felt fully at home at the Burrow now, so her visits were as much pleasure as they were convenient.

Hermione had arrived on Monday, the train to Hogwarts was the following Tuesday, and they were planning to visit Diagon Alley on Friday. Today was a very grey Wednesday, the most in-between-y day in Hermione's stay. Arthur and Fred were at work at the ministry, Fred and George were at their shop in Diagon Alley, and Molly had popped out to the shops to get some more supplies and insisted Ginny assist her to carry the bags, despite having an excellent handbag with an internal engorgement charm that would fit everything without a problem. She was popping to a muggle supermarket and didn't want to cause a scene. With all the comings and goings it simply left Hermione, who was reading at the kitchen table, and Ron, who was bored.

Ron rolled his eyes at her across the kitchen table. 'Are you going to sit there and read _all_ day, Hermione?' he asked, exasperatedly.

'Do you know me at all, Ronald?' she replied curtly, but with a smile.

'Ow, come on, I'm so bored. Can you at least do something we can do together? I'm not going to read over your shoulder, it's probably boring anyway.'

She lowered her book slowly, and closed it, keeping her finger in the page as a marker just in case Ron had no interesting suggestions, so she could resume reading where she'd left off. 'What did you have in mind?' she asked, placing the page-marked book in her lap.

'Oh, I dunno? We can't really go outside 'cos it's fairly rubbish out. A game? Wizarding chess?' he suggested, with a shrug.

It was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes at him. 'Ron, you know I don't really know how to play that. And that's yours and Harry's game.'

'Yeah, but I can teach you! Harry didn't know how to play it 'til I taught him in first year either. And it's one of those games you pick up better if you're clever. If I can do it, you'll have no problem at all. In fact, you'll probably end up being better than me, so maybe I shouldn't teach you at all.'

'Are you trying to flatter me into playing a game with you?' She raised her eyebrow ever so slightly.

'Well, a little bit, yeah.' He replied, truthfully, his ears just a shade pinker than normal. 'But all of what I said was true. I meant it. You'll probably be dead good at it.'

Hermione sighed in resignation, and put her book down on the kitchen table. 'Oh, alright then. You can try and teach me wizarding chess. I'll catch up on my arithmancy reading later.'

Ron grinned in response. 'Great. It's all upstairs, and I've got the perfect sized table with cushions to sit at to play.' Hermione smiled at his enthusiasm and followed him up the winding stairs, past Ginny's room where she always stayed, and up to Ron's room nearer the top of the crooked house. It wasn't unusual for her to relax in Ron's room with him and Harry, but she was trying not to be too acutely aware of the fact that they would be there alone.

Once they were in his room, Ron pulled out his chess set, and a small coffee table that did, indeed, fit the chess board perfectly, and was the right height to sit at on the floor, on a cushion.

'Perfect.' Hermione observed, as they sat in front of the board, opposite each other. Ron grinned.

'Yeah, me and Charlie used to sit here when he was teaching me. I think it was the summer after his O.W.L.s and before his N.E.W.T.s, he spent a lot of the summer up here teaching me and playing with me. I think he was procrastinating from studying for his N.E.W.T.s to be honest…but it was good of him, really. With so many little siblings – and I was pretty young then – to actually bother to make time to play with his littlest brother when he must have had better things to do: Quidditch training, and dragony stuff. That was really nice.'

Hermione smiled back at him. She felt so at home at the Burrow, and knew so much about what life was like there now, but she hadn't considered how much of the Burrow's history she didn't know. She'd never imagined what it must have been like when all of the siblings were at home together – how chaotic it must have been for Mr and Mrs Weasley. How important big brothers taking care of little brothers must have been. Hermione also hadn't considered how touched she would be to receive that little family anecdote from Ron. Again, she knew so much about him and spent so much time with him that she almost forgot there was still a lot about him she didn't know. A little heart-swell caught her off-guard and made her smile back at him, their eyes meeting in smile for just a moment. Hermione cleared her throat, and looked away, fiddling with a loose thread on her jeans.

'Well, it's your turn to teach me now.' She said, kindly. 'Where do we start?'

Ron had set out the board and put all the pieces out ready, one of which had hurled abuse at him as he slightly distractedly put him on the wrong square. 'Well, I would say "start by not letting the pieces know you're new" because they'll try and put you off if you don't know what you're doing, but we sort of need them out to make sure you know how it all works. Do you remember the first game I played with Harry?'

She shook her head, all of Ron and Harry's chess matches having blurred into one.

'They caused such a fuss and kept giving him different advice. No wonder I beat him so quickly, he didn't stand a chance with their interfering. Anyway. The pieces already know you're new to the game but hopefully they'll behave.' He gave the pieces a pointed look, which made Hermione laugh. 'Why don't you tell me what you know already first? Then I can fill in the gaps. You probably know more than you think – the basics are the same as muggle chess.'

Hermione observed the board and then cautiously began describing or naming pieces, and what she thought they could do, while Ron made encouraging noises, gently corrected her, or expanded on what she'd said. When Hermione got to the end of her knowledge Ron congratulated her. 'See!' he started, 'You knew loads of that! Essentially all of the basics.' Hermione blushed slightly in response.

'The main thing is that you're always aiming for the king, that's the only way to actually win. And once you know all the basics the next thing is strategy, which sort of comes with experience, I guess. Once you can start thinking a few moves ahead you really start challenging your opponent and the game gets properly interesting.'

Ron looked up to find Hermione with an amused look on her face. 'What?' he asked quickly, 'what did I say?'

Hermione laughed. 'Nothing, honestly! It's just really nice having you teach me something; we don't do this very often.' A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

'You're a good teacher, Ron. Patient. And thorough.'

As soon as the words tumbled from her lips she heard what she'd said. 'Patient and thorough'. _He's teaching you chess, he's not your lover._ She thought to herself hastily. She hadn't meant at all for there to be any kind of undertone to what she was saying, but it was such an awful choice of words. She desperately willed her face to stay a normal colour, and hoped beyond hope that even if Ron did pick up on the potential _double entendre_ in her words he'd know she'd done it completely by accident. When she dared to look up, Ron's ears had gone pink, but she had no idea if it was simply her compliment, or indeed her choice of words, that had embarrassed him. The air buzzed with anticipation for a moment, before Ron cleared his throat. 'Oh. Well, thanks.' He smiled sheepishly at her. 'Shall we see if we can make it through a game, then?'

Hermione nodded, and their debut game began, each taking it in turns to direct their pieces in play. As the game progressed Hermione found herself more and more involved with it, more able to see what she could do next, and oddly attached to her pieces. As she watched her pieces gradually get dragged from the board by Ron's opposing ones, small squeals and laughs erupted from her, almost without her knowing. Ron hadn't seen Hermione so relaxed and so engrossed in something that wasn't a book for such a long time. Normally girls giggling set him on edge – it reminded him of the dreadful weeks when he and Harry needed to find dates to the Yule Ball in fourth year. Girls usually giggled in groups, and it was usually about boys, and in a way that made him incredibly self-conscious. But Ron also knew that Hermione wasn't really like a lot of the other girls. And somehow, her self-appreciating giggles when she managed to take a piece that Ron really should have guarded better, were surprisingly endearing. Ron knew that Hermione never did anything by half, so shouldn't have been surprised that she would get so involved with the game; and yet he was slightly caught off-guard by her enthusiasm, both strategically and emotionally.

'Noo-ooo! Not my last bishop!' she exclaimed as Ron's rook advanced on her piece, and dragged it to the side of the board, as it struggled and fought with reluctance. 'I should have seen that one! I should have!'

'Sorry!' Ron shrugged, and laughed.

'There's no way you're going to graciously let me win this, as a first-timer, is there?' she asked with resignation.

'Of course not!' Ron replied with a laugh. 'How offensive would that be to you as my opponent?! It might be your first game but I'm regarding you as a proper competitor even now.'

She sighed, but quietly liked that Ron was expecting her to be able to play properly – she hated being patronised and Ron was doing anything but. They continued, until finally Hermione found herself check-mated. Ron tried his hardest not to look smug as Hermione both wailed and laughed at the same time. He knew he didn't need to be proud of beating someone in their first game, but there was a small amount of triumph in beating Hermione at anything. Actually, Hermione was a natural, and only didn't win because she didn't quite have the experience to see Ron's long-game, but it wouldn't be long before she'd definitely be able to take him on.

Once Hermione had calmed down from beating herself up over not being able to get herself out of check, she said, 'I was never going to win my first game, was I?'

Ron chuckled. 'No, probably not, not many people do. You were _really_ good though. Better than Harry, but don't tell him that.'

'He was eleven when you taught him though, I do have the advantage of age.'

'No, I mean, you're better than Harry now. So _definitely_ don't tell him that.' Ron raised his eyebrows conspiratorially.

'Oh!' Hermione was taken aback. And then laughed, again. She seemed to have spent most of the afternoon laughing, one way or another. She wasn't sure she could remember having had such an enjoyable day in for a long time, especially with Ron. She balked slightly at the thought of having something to keep from Harry, though, who really was her best friend. It wasn't like Ron and Hermione hadn't had conversations about Harry that they'd had to keep from him before, but this one was…funny, somehow. Like instead of being worried parents discussing the concerns of their son, they were just what they were – two friends who had a private joke they weren't going to share. As she considered it she realised she wouldn't necessarily have told Harry the ins and outs of her and Ron's afternoon together anyway, in case she accidentally gave away quite how much she'd enjoyed it.

As they packed away Hermione became aware of other noises in the house. 'Oh, I think the others are home!' she exclaimed. Ron looked at his watch in surprise.

'Gosh is that the time already? That was a longer game than I thought.'

'I suppose with you teaching me at the beginning as well…we should go down and say hello.' Ron agreed and the pair made their way down the winding flights of stairs, chatting and laughing as they went, until they arrived in the now full kitchen. They really had been up there a while – it was gone half past five and everyone was home from work. Several pairs of eyebrows were raised comically and suggestively as the pair sat down at the table.

'Well, hello you two.' Fred began, wiggling his eyebrows at Ron. Ron scowled back at him.

'What were you two up to then?' asked Molly, warmly, and, unlike her children, without suggestion. 'We've been back about half an hour and could hear you two laughing the whole time!' Hermione blushed, and remembered that they'd left his bedroom door wide open – not deliberately, but she was immediately embarrassed to think everyone had heard her exclamations as she lost the game.

'Chess.' They replied in unison.

Fred leaned over to George and stage-whispered 'That sounded rehearsed,' eliciting a snigger from his twin brother.

Hermione ignored them. 'Um, Ron was teaching me how to play wizarding chess.' She paused and glanced at him. 'It was fun.'

'It certainly sounded it. Ron never has that much fun when he's playing with me.' George stirred.

'Well, Hermione's clearly a lot more fun than you are!' Ron jibed back, and only after it had left his mouth realised that what was meant to be a cutting retort to George really sounded more like a compliment to Hermione. As George grinned back at him, Ron then realised that was exactly what he had been goading him into.

'She was actually really good.' Ron went on, trying to cover his tracks. 'Unsurprisingly.' He added, a moment later.

'Did you beat him?!' Ginny asked Hermione enthusiastically.

Hermione laughed. 'No, I wasn't that good! Well and truly beaten.'

Ginny sighed. 'OK, next time. He needs taking down a peg or two.'

'Taking _down a peg_?!' Ron exclaimed quickly. 'Chess is the only thing I'm good at, Ginny! Don't encourage her to beat me in that immediately too!'

Hermione scowled at him and opened her mouth to contradict his self-deprecation, but shut it again quickly.

Ginny, ignoring her brother's claim, turned her attention back to Hermione. 'OK, well if not next game, then the one after.'

Thankfully, before Hermione could respond, Mrs Wesley turned her attention to Fred and George. 'So how was the shop today, boys?' she asked kindly, changing the subject completely. And as the twins began regaling the family with entertaining stories from the shop that day, Hermione turned subtly to Ron.

'Chess isn't the only thing you're good at, don't be stupid.' She muttered quietly. Her voice was harsh, but her face was soft. But before he could reply they were interrupted.

'It's HARRY!' Ginny exclaimed, and any response Ron might have had for Hermione was lost.


	2. Round Two

The evening Harry arrived at the Burrow, he, Ron and Hermione spent half the night catching up on everything that had happened over the summer, until Mr Weasley knocked on Ron's bedroom door and suggested it _might_ be time for Hermione to go down to Ginny's room and for everyone to get some sleep. The following morning after breakfast, they retreated once more until all topics had been covered, as many stories regaled as possible, and Ron and Hermione were fully caught up on Harry's visit to see Slughorn with Dumbledore. It was only after lunch that they all realised they should probably _do_ something with their day, rather than sitting around exchanging stories for its entirety.

'I'd suggest a game of chess now everyone can play it,' Ron looked pointedly at Hermione, having explained to Harry how he'd taught her to play yesterday (without the detail of quite how quickly she'd picked it up), 'but it's not exactly a three player game, is it?'

Hermione started to say that they could play while she did some more arithmancy reading, but Harry cut across her.

'No, it's fine – I think Ginny wanted to do a bit of quidditch training this afternoon anyway, so you two can play chess while we do that?'

'Oh, I would quite like to do some flying, though…' Ron started, and both boys could see their own and each other's conflict at both wanting to get out on their brooms, but also not admitting to perhaps wanting to spend time on their own with _particular_ people. The solution came to Harry quickly.

'I know, Ginny and I will do some drills and training and stuff now – that was what we were going to do anyway – and then you can join us for a game with Fred and George later, after your chess game?'

Ron smiled his lopsided smile at such an elegant solution. 'That sounds alright to me. Hermione?'

'Me too – I can _finally_ finish my reading while you're flying, that way.' The boys rolled their eyes at each other, mocking her dedication to studying before the school year had even begun; but an unspoken understanding passed between them. Ron was OK with Harry spending time alone with Ginny. Harry was OK with Ron spending time alone with Hermione. They didn't have to do everything together all the time, but this way everyone was happy.

'Right, see you later then Harry.' Ron called as he got up from the kitchen table, and he and Hermione headed upstairs once more.

'I'm going to beat you this time.' Hermione stated coolly as she followed him up the stairs.

'You what?!' Ron replied, entertained by her competitive spirit before the pieces were even laid out on the board.

'You heard me.'

Ron laughed warmly as he set up the board while Hermione watched with her arms folded, a defiant look on her face trying to resist being melted by an impending smile.

'Now, do you want me to go over anything from yesterday? Or are you good to go?' Ron asked.

'Unless you can tell me exactly how not to have my king dragged kicking and screaming off the board again?'

Ron shook his head.

'Then I'm good to go.' She set her face defiantly again, determined to do a better job today, but she knew it wouldn't be long before she was laughing again.

Knowing a bit more what to expect this time, and understanding more what she could and couldn't do, she tried to develop something of a game plan as the game progressed. She knew her brain wouldn't work as quickly as Ron's could, without his experience, but she also knew that her logical brain could at least _try_. Squeaks of indignation as her pieces got taken, and giggles of celebration as she took Ron's spilled from her as prolifically as they had before, and Ron's heart grew unwittingly with each and every one.

It was a lovely and awkward situation for both of them. Once again, the pair laughed their way through their game – Hermione largely at herself, and Ron largely because of Hermione – and both unconsciously relished the other's undisturbed company. Perhaps helpfully, neither of them had truly admitted to themselves what they might feel for each other, although they both had recognised strange responses in themselves to situations regarding the other, that they felt were best ignored. If they had actually acknowledged what they felt for each other, their afternoons spent playing chess might not have been so easy, comfortable and enjoyable as they ended up being, but laced with tension and uncertainty. Undoubtedly, these hours spent together added fuel to the fire that would come some time later when their relationship would finally ignite; but, thankfully for their present friendship, they neither of them realised quite how in love with each other they were falling.

Ron was impressed as the game progressed that it didn't look like he was going to be able to win this one. And then Hermione ordered her next move and took his queen.

'Bloody hell!' he exclaimed, in awe rather than frustration. 'How did you do that?! I didn't see that one coming at all!'

Hermione laughed and grinned as her bishop dragged Ron's queen off the board.

'No seriously,' he went on, 'that's dead impressive. You shouldn't be this good yet. Merlin's beard.' Hermione could tell Ron was genuinely surprised by her move, and felt a twinge of guilt, but it quickly died in the glow of his compliments.

Ron examined the board thoroughly to see what he could do next. Just as he was about to voice his conclusion, one of his pieces cleared its throat haughtily, and declared, 'I think you'll find it's a stalemate.'

Ron looked up at Hermione. 'Well. I think it's a stalemate.'

Hermione laughed. 'So I gather.'

'Seriously though, good game.' Ron faltered for a moment, and then went on, 'I mean, I'm fairly sure this is as good as you'll get though – a stalemate against me is probably the best you can hope for…'

Hermione smacked him in the arm as he was gathering the pieces up and putting them back in their case. She knew he was joking, but she wasn't willing to let him get away with it.

They began their descent back to the kitchen. 'So this is it now, is it?' Hermione asked. 'I've peaked after two games of chess. That's as good as I'm ever going to get?'

'Yeah, I'd say so. Against me, anyway. Against Harry might be a different matter…'

Hermione squawked indignantly at Ron, half amused and half worried that Harry would hear him belittling his chess skills behind his back. Thankfully, as they reached Harry and Ginny in the kitchen, who had just come in from the garden, all Harry and Ginny caught was their laughter, rather than what had caused it.

'Ah, you're here, good timing!' greeted Ginny as Ron and Hermione sat themselves at the table. 'Good game?'

Before Hermione could respond, Mrs Weasley, who had been pottering around the kitchen as they all reconvened, cut across their conversation. 'I am sorry to interrupt my dears, but do any of you need a drink? Especially you two, Harry and Ginny, out there exerting yourselves. I've got some pumpkin juice around here somewhere…?'

The four of them nodded eagerly. 'Yes please, Mrs Weasley, that would be perfect.' Replied Harry, on behalf of everyone.

'Oh Harry, my dear, I do wish you'd call me Molly. You can't call me Mrs Weasley forever, you're essentially part of our family now. Same goes for you, Hermione.'

Harry smiled at her sheepishly. 'Sorry, force of habit.' Hermione blushed as Molly slipped off to get the drinks.

'So, the game.' Ginny resumed. 'Did you beat him this time?' Her eyes twinkled as she relished the thought of Hermione so quickly beating her brother at the thing he was best at.

'No, afraid not. Nearly though.' She gave Ron her defiant look again which he returned, now that they were in company, rather than smiling at her as he had done earlier.

'You did not nearly beat me.' Ron stated.

'I did!' Hermione retorted indignantly. She knew that Ron was both trying to save face in front of his sister, and trying not to let on how encouraging he had been towards her in private; but, she wasn't going to let him let Harry and Ginny think he'd won.

Mrs Weasley bustled back in with the pumpkin juice and handed them out as their conversation continued.

'You did not!' Ron replied simply.

'Well, you _didn't_ beat me this time, and that is significantly closer to having beaten you than my one previous attempt.'

'What, it was a stalemate on your second game?!' Harry asked, slightly incredulous. Ron grimaced. 'Hermione, how did you do that, Ron's _really_ good?!'

'She's also _really good_.' Ron sighed, resignedly.

Hermione gave him a sheepish smile, then to the others a little shrug.

'Anyway, how was your practice?' Ron asked, diverting attention away from Hermione, who was clearly a little embarrassed. She didn't know whether he had done this on purpose or not, but she appreciated it all the same.

'Pretty good, I reckon.' Replied Ginny.

'Yeah, we got a few good drills done. And the weather's great, we should definitely have a game in a bit.' Added Harry.

'Definitely, I'm up for that!' enthused Ron. 'Where are Fred and George, they're around today, right?'

'They'll be back in half an hour.' Mrs Weasley chimed in. 'They're out being useful.'

'Oh, right. Great!' Ron replied, glad of the promise of some time out on his broom.

'You be alright if we're all off flying, Hermione?' Ginny asked, kindly, but knowing the answer before she'd even asked.

'Of course I will. I've got a lot of reading still to do if I'm going to get ahead.' She replied, with a slight edge of panic. The three of them looked at her with a mixture of concern and bewilderment. 'But…I'll be happy and cosy in here. Or, I'll come and sit outside, if it's not too bright, while you fly?'

'Oh, you should do that.' Said Ron, quickly. 'That way I can make sure you're not sneakily reading up on chess strategy to destroy me in our next game.'

Hermione scowled at him. 'You'll be far too busy flying to be concentrating on me!'

'You might think that, but I'll be keeping my eye on you…' He squinted his eyes at her, and pointed a warning finger.

Hermione laughed in spite of herself. 'It's _just_ arithmancy, Ronald, you have nothing to worry about.'

Ron shook his head and muttered under his breath, 'Arithmancy. In August. In _August._ Unbelievable.'

Mrs Weasley observed her son and Hermione affectionately as they sparred back and forth, drawing conclusions from their interaction that they themselves had yet to draw. She caught Ginny's eye with excitement who quickly got up from the table to join her mother, taking her glass to refill it with pumpkin juice as an excuse for her movement. She leant into her mother subtly and spoke so only she could hear. 'Shush Mum, I know exactly what that look meant.'

'But, they…!' Molly replied with stifled excitement.

' _I know._ ' Ginny stated plainly. 'But _they_ haven't worked it out yet. Everyone else knows they're in love apart from them and it's bloody infuriating.'

'Language, Ginny!' Molly exclaimed in hushed tones, in a knee-jerk reaction.

'Oh Mum, that's not the point. You mustn't say anything, we're trying to let them work it out.'

'Oh sweetheart, but we'll be here forever!?' Molly responded with exasperation.

'Yeah. I know.' Ginny sighed.


End file.
